The detection of airborne contaminant, particulate, flora or biologicals or the like is a continuing and expanding need to minimize health risks to populations. Rapid detection of the presence of such contaminants is essential to taking effective steps for population protection. This need requires remote collection, concentration and assay of samples on a real time basis. It is also imperative that biological materials, which may be collected, are protected from fragmentation during the collection and concentration steps to avoid mistaken analysis of the sampled biological material.
Therefore, it is essential that the collection step be accomplished in a filter medium or other collector, which does not alter the sample collected. Transfer from the collector to a concentrated sample must not alter the sample in any manner, which would degrade the assaying operation. Likewise, the concentration or preparation step, which is usually essential to efficient transportation to the assay operations, cannot destroy the specimen sought to be analyzed.
The bio-efficiency of any such system also is of prime importance and includes the bio-efficiency of the inlet aspiration, the bio-efficiency of the transmission chamber and the bio-efficiency of the collection medium used. The aspiration efficiency is primarily determined by the inlet geometry. The transmission efficiency is primarily determined by the sampling line or the transmission chamber, which connects the inlet to the sampling medium. This is ideally very short. The collection efficiency is most dependent upon the properties of the filter medium used.
Heretofore, to the knowledge of the inventors, no one has achieved an efficient self-contained air sampler capable of collecting airborne contaminants, concentrating them and conveying them for immediate assay into a multifunctional material.
Examples of previous attempts to achieve efficient samplers may be seen in the following United States patents